Decay
by Joillene
Summary: A nervous young Umbreon finds himself in a diseased dreamscape, constantly running from a decaying sky and two gaseous creatures that follow him.


**A/N: Hello everyone! This is the first time I've put a fanfic on this site in many years, and I thought I'd start off with something I enjoyed writing. Depending on the response this gets, I might continue it. We'll see.**

Everything appeared ethereal, beautiful, and radiated joy. The grass was lush and bright green, dotted with the occasional flower. The terrain wasn't rough or dangerous whatsoever. Miles of green, rolling hills all around. No trees blocked the little Umbreon's view of the world, and no clouds blotted the vast ocean of blue that painted the sky. It was like something out of a dream.

Nestled between two hills was a group of overly cheerful Pokemon. They were happy. Much too happy, even for a dreamscape such as this.

Each had a permanent smile plastered on their faces, and their laughing never seemed to end. It was almost infectious, but Lynn soon tired of it. He was weary of all of this. It unsettled him how these creatures bounced around in circles without pause. He had taken several breaks by this point. He forced himself to laugh along with them however, unsure of how they would react if he stopped. His mask of joy cracked as one of them called to him.

" _Lynn! Lynn!"_

The Umbreon's ears perked up in the direction of the voice. In a shrill tone, a member of the group called to the Umbreon from atop a hill. It was a Pachirisu hopping endlessly.

" _Follow me Lynn! I thought I saw something dash across the plains!"_

The Umbreon stopped, turned, and trotted up the hill after the white and blue squirrel. The Pachirisu bolted from the peak the moment Lynn started making his way up, and was nowhere to be found. It was as if the electric squirrel just vanished into thin air. Lynn found himself confused. He turned to look at the rest of the group, only to find that they had vanished too. He jogged down to where they once were as the scenery behind him began to vanish, replaced by a dark purple sky. With a loud crack, withered and twisted grey trees sprouted from the ground. The grass turned from lush, healthy stalks into fragile pieces that broke down to ash the moment Lynn's paws touched them. While there was light, it came from an unknown source, casting no shadows upon the ground. The Umbreon's golden rings radiated little light themselves, seemingly smothered by the environment.

A cold breeze ruffled the Umbreon's fur as he tried to find where the group went. He rotated his head, and found the paradise he was in replaced by a forest of shadow and despair. His paws left prints of ash everywhere he stepped, swiftly turning them grey in color as he kicked up more of the ash. He looked up to the sky, finding that it too had gone dark. Something still managed to illuminate the devastated forest, though Lynn did not know how.

 _H-how did I get here? Why am I here?_ He thought, his mind racing for an answer.

 _This must be a dream. I-it seems far too strange to be anything else._

Everything around him had been changed the nightmarish forest, surrounding him and a small patch of ashy grass that he stood in the middle of.

Something began to materialize on the far side of the clearing. It looked like a blob of black gas, its body outlined by purple, contrasting the darkness all around it. The blob seeped into the clearing from the ground, defying gravity itself to come into this world.

The gaseous blob split itself in two, both forming into a quadrupedal figure of their own. The one on the right emulated Lynn's shape, however it was more slender than himself. The one on the left was significantly different from its sister form. It's large mane gently glided down the curves of its chest, threatening to touch the diseased ground. A curved blade stuck out of its head from the side, aimed straight for the darkened sky. Its tail was blade-like as well, but longer, straighter, and thinner. Its strong, muscular legs held a sharp claw at their elbows, and three towards its paws.

The slender Lynn-like gas approached the Umbreon, every step expelling small amounts of gas into the clearing and vanishing. Lynn tried to back away, his mind racing as he tried to get away. He found his feet immobilized; they were held down by grey, lifeless vines that sprouted from the earth, rows of spines digging into his fur. He cried out in pain as the spines dug deeper, drawing blood. The gas shied away slightly, demeanour hesitant, but pushed on, getting closer to him until their noses were practically touching. Its scent washed over him. It was oddly familiar, though he could not place its source. The creature's face was impressed with worry, and fretted over Lynn's terrified expression. It opened its mouth and tried to talk, but only expelled gas into Lynn's face, causing a cough to rise within him as he turned away. The ghastly form noticed and backed away, its ears drooping and expression saddened.

Lynn turned back after a few moments of coughing, and stared at the creature. Its sorrowful face slowly melted away into one of pride and happiness. The young Umbreon stopped resisting the vines when he saw this, and they loosened slightly, small trails of blood following the spines. He let out a relieved sigh as the pain faded.

The other form, which had been waiting patiently behind the slender one, moved to the other form's side and opened its mouth. The slender form nodded its head. They both sat on their haunches, looks of both pride and worry evident as they stared at him, unblinking.

A deafening roar erupted from the trees behind the two figures. The slender gas bolted upright, and turned to face it, while the other sat where it was, continuing to stare into Lynn's eyes before blinking. With an outstretched paw, it tapped the slender Umbreon-like form, and they both vanished.

Lynn was left in the clearing, mystified by what just occurred. He had little time to think it over as a wave of gas, similar to that of the two forms, crashed down upon the clearing with a loud sound unlike any the Umbreon had heard in his life. Within moments, he was completely enveloped by it, the gas forcing its way into his mouth, drowning out the screams he did not know he emitted, and through the remainder of his body. There was no taste and no feeling.

Then, without warning, everything went dark.

* * *

Lynn awoke with a start, and an exasperated breathing pattern overtook him. He felt like he had just run several miles straight. He looked around his den, noted its familiar darkness and warmth, and calmed down, knowing he was safe.

 _What was that?_ He thought. _It was way too real to have been a dream. There's just no way…_

He felt a pain in his paws. A sharp, stinging pain. Pulling his paws out from underneath the straw that served as his bedding, he looked over his paws in under the light of his rings.

And he found blood.

Blood dripped from the Umbreon's paws, yet they came from unseen wounds. Then he remembered the vines from his dream. The way they dug into his skin, stabbing into his soft flesh underneath his fur. He knew the wounds came from those vines, there was no other possibility.

He stared dumbfounded as the dark liquid dripped from his legs.

 _The dream wasn't real was it? There's no way that a dream could be real, right? What were those blobs anyway? Why did they look like Pokemon?_

But he knew there was no other logical conclusion. The dream was real.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! I wish I had more time to write this, but I thought it was an appropriate length as it is. Feel free to critique my story, as I'm always trying to improve my writing. Thanks again! 3**


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